Dancing Through Life
by RangerAbbyofStarship15-A2
Summary: British-raised twins, Abby and Alex, get the chance of a lifetime (not that they know it yet) when they're asked to choreograph a Starkid musical. This is the story of the twins and their journey to fit in with the famous Starkids-and maybe even find love along the way. Of course, it can't be that simple. Rated for language, mostly.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hi there. Before you ask, my name's not really Abby and this story isn't based off any real life events. It's just a story I've had going on in my head for a while. I write chapters and post them long after I've written them, because I want to make sure I have some cushioning room in case I don't write for a while. So I'm in the middle of like Chapter 6 right now. I already know how this story is going to go for quite a while. But hey, if I get bored or don't know what to write, I'm going to ask my reviewers what they think should happen. So review for me and let me know what you think :) Also, the title is tentative. I'm really bad at coming up with titles, so let me know what you think.**

 **EDIT: I'm just changing the time of the festival to New Year's, because I hadn't exactly had a good timeline planned when I wrote this chapter. Now I do, so no more mistakes :)**

 **Chapter 1**

Abby sat down with her sonic screwdriver pen at the small table in the basement as her sister turned on some poppy music and began dancing. "Come on," Alex whined to her twin. "Don't be boring, we have to get our routine down for the show!"

The sisters were in a talent show their small town put on every year. This town was just outside of Chicago, and its name is so insignificant you'll probably never hear anyone in this story say it. If you asked Abby and Alex where they lived, they would tell you 'Chicago, Illinois.'

"I am working on my book," Abby said with superiority. "I don't suppose you would understand."

"I don't."

"Look, Alex, we both know the routine as well as we could. It's good to be a little rusty. It just makes us try harder in the show, we both know that!"

"No," Alex argued. "You know that. I think the more practice we get in, the better, and you can't tell me it hasn't worked in the past."

"Okay," Abby sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Since we got here, to this city, four years ago, we've entered each year. Each year we've come in second. We've tried your way, we've tried mine. What are we going to do now?"

Alex seemed to consider this before saying dramatically, "We don't enter."

Abby found it ironic that at this moment, her mobile phone started playing the Doctor Who theme song. She laughed as she picked her phone off the table and said, "Well that was dramatic." She looked at the caller ID and then answered, "Hey Brant."

"Abby, you're a dancer, right?" he asked quickly.

"Not at all," she said sarcastically. "Why? Who needs a dancer?"

"My friends," he replied. "I'm bringing them home tonight. They want to meet you. Maybe use you."

"Use me?"

"Both of you. They need a choreographer, and I told them I knew two. Will you meet them?"

"Brant, we have our show tonight," Abby replied. "The town talent show? Alex and I are very busy practicing, and we're going to win! So if you don't mind, we'd like to wait to meet them until tomorrow. Good day, sir." And she hung up on her step-brother.

"What did he want?" Alex asked immediately.

"He knows people who need a choreographer. My guess is the musical he's in, and the people he's been spending all his time with from that musical. Of course, we don't know what that is."

"He wouldn't tell us. He refused, saying we've never heard of it," Alex remembered.

"Right. That's why I'm avoiding the question. If they want us so bad, they can tell us who they are."

"And you wonder why we call you a bitch," Alex said.

Abby glared her green eyes at her sister, flipped her completely purple hair, and walked to the radio Alex had set up in their dance area in the basement. Even though the basement held Brant's room, there was an area down there specifically for the girls to dance, because if they did their rougher dance movements on the second floor, it made too big a noise. Her identical twin followed her and when Abby turned on the music, they lost themselves in the choreography.

-A-

They were ready. Their dad and step-mum gathered the kids, Sara and Josh, the twins' half-siblings, and they went to the center of town, and the only park in the town. There was set up a stage with about fifteen groups of people behind it, getting ready for their acts. In a town like this, fifteen was actually a pretty big number of acts for a talent show. They always made sure to make them extra good. The girls were a regular act, year after year. They were always told to come back to ring in the new year.

Brant, being four years older than the girls, drove himself and came backstage when he was there, as the girls were just doing their stage make-up. "Break a leg, girls," he said.

"Didn't think you were coming, you never said," Abby noticed.

"No. That's Meg who's not coming. She's the one who never does. I wouldn't miss this. Not even for rehearsal, which is really where I should be right now."

"Oh, impressive. You gave up your friends for us. That's a first."

"Well, not exactly."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll find out," he answered vaguely. He stepped back, waved, and turned around and left.

The girls were used to his strange behaviour. Brant was very close to his family, but since they grew up in Britain with their gran, he never got the chance to know him. They suspected their step-brother was just uncomfortable in the presence of new people, though he never seemed to have that problem with his friends.

"Abby!" Alex snapped when Brant was out of earshot. "You really should try to be nicer. He's right, Meg is the one who never shows up for these things. He's actually a nice, supporting older brother."

"Save it. I know you have some worship thing for him going on, but he's not my real brother so I don't," Abby replied. "Let's run through our routine one more time," she added before Alex could comment.

But before they could, they were called. "You guys are in the hole, be ready," the stage manager, Cindy, said, flashing them a 'break a leg' smile before running off to another group, which consisted of both the girls' exes.

"We need to beat them this year," Alex said determinedly. Though her break up wasn't bad, she still found it humiliating when he liked to gloat—followed by flirting with her in a desperate attempt to get her back. "I mean it!"

"Maybe our guest judge will take pity on you," Cindy said, overhearing their conversation on her way back to the stage.

"Who's the guest judge?" Abby asked interestedly.

"His name is Brian Holden," Cindy answered. "He's part of a musical theatre group called Team Starkid. Have you ever heard of it?"

"Nope," the girls answered.

"That's good. Most acts are trying to suck up to him. I mean, if YouTube sensations think _they're_ good, they must be."

"And it's good that we're not trying to suck up?" Abby clarified, trying to get Cindy's attention back to their conversation.

"Yeah—" She cut off as she heard something in her headset. "You guys are on deck, hurry up to the stage!"

The twins ran backstage and got in their positions. Abby would be coming in stage left, the closest side to them, and Alex would be coming in on the other side, so she ran around really quickly during the performance before them. When she got into position, she met Abby's eye and gave her a thumbs up, which Abby quickly returned.

-A-

"And in third place," Allen, the host of the talent show every year, began, "the Gleeks!"

A group of four girls squealed and ran to the front. They had done a pantomime mash-up of songs from the Fox show Glee, which the girls didn't like at all, but apparently the judges did. They jumped excitedly and blew kisses to the judges' table, obviously to this Brian guy, who yes, the girls had to admit was cute, but they weren't going to be…well…them. They weren't that kind of fangirls. Well, usually.

"And now, our two contenders for first place," Allen announced. "Drew Smith's group, who has no name." Drew was Abby's ex-boyfriend, and the leader of his group. They had done a few songs that they said were from Starkid, not that the twins would know. "And the Jackson Twins!" Abby and Alex jumped up and came to the front of the stage. They both crossed their arms, right over left, and held hands as they waited for Allen to announce the winner. "And the first place winners are…" He paused for dramatic effect and the girls squeezed their hands. "The Jackson Twins!"

Abby and Alex squealed and jumped forward to claim their invisible trophy, an apparent tradition of the talent show. One of them would have to be holding the invisible trophy at all times for the rest of the festival that went on after the show. If they lost it, they'd lose their first place title.

Abby stole the trophy out of Alex's hands and held it up for Drew to see. "Ha! We finally beat you!" Drew flipped her off, and Abby held the trophy down and said superiorly, "You wish you could."

"Yeah, I do," he replied. Thankfully, the festivities had already started, and not many people were paying attention to this exchange. Unfortunately, for Abby anyway, one person who was, was her step-brother.

He pushed Abby behind him and said to Drew, "I suggest you leave." Surprisingly, Drew did so.

"Thanks," Abby said, passing the trophy to Alex. "But I don't need your help. Drew's just being Drew, I can handle him."

"Actually, I came up here to introduce you to my friends," Brant said. It was at that moment that both twins noticed the two guys standing there. One was the celebrity judge, Brian. One was, in Abby's opinion, cuter than Brian with dark hair and an adorable smile. "This is Brian," he said, pointing to the judge, "and this is Joey," he added, pointing to the one Abby was certain she was now in love with. "Guys, this is Abby and Alex," Brant told his friends, pointing out each of them as he said their names.

"Abby with purple hair, Alex with black hair," Joey clarified. Abby nodded. "I'm gonna forget that," Joey added, laughing.

"Anyway," Brian interrupted. "I voted for you guys to win. Until my vote, it was tied. And that was before I even knew you were Brant's sisters. He told us about you guys, and that you were really good dancers. We were wondering about something. See, we're doing a new musical. It's an original thing, but it's based off something else. We'd prefer not to say anything else at this time, in case you don't decide to do it, so we don't have people outside our project knowing about it. You understand, right?"

"Yeah, of course," Alex said.

"Right. So when we left U of M, where we did our first musicals, we also left our new choreographer behind, because she had to finish a year of school still. So we're looking for a new choreographer, and when Brant told us you both were dancers, we thought, why not? Starkid is mainly a group of family and friends anyway. We'd love to get people we know rather than have open call auditions and get a bunch of crazy fangirls, you know?"

"Yeah, we understand," Alex replied. "And we'd love to do it, if you really want us to. We've never actually choreographed a musical before," she added uncertainly. "And we're really not good at teaching. Well, Abby's not. She's really impatient."

"Hey!" Abby snapped playfully. "I can be patient!"

"You'll need to be," Brian said. "Joey here can't dance at all." He nudged his friend, who laughed shyly.

"Well we can totally teach you a bit," Abby offered. "We'll make it really simple so you can do it!"

"Cool! I'd say you guys are hired, but I still wanna run it by Matt and Nick, so maybe you guys could come by rehearsals tomorrow with Brant?" Brian asked.

"Sure, we could do that!" Alex said excitedly, and Abby nodded along in agreement.

"Awesome!" Brian said. "Would you two winners like to hang out with us at the festival?" he added, holding his arm out for Alex to take.

"Sure!" Alex said, thrusting the trophy into Abby's hands and taking Brian's arm.

Once they were away, Brant looked like he was about to say something, then thought better of it. "I'm just going to go find mom and dad. Catch you later. Joey, when you're ready for a ride home, let me know." And before either of them could say a word, Brant had left them alone.

"Um…" Joey began awkwardly. "So uh, we could hang out, yeah? I mean, not if you don't want to, but…if you did, we could just go enjoy the festival?"

"Yeah. But we have to go see the fireworks in…" She quickly pulled out her phone, seeing it said 10:30. "Half an hour. Okay?"

"Yeah, definitely. Fireworks are always fun."

"Yeah."

They settled into uneasy silence. Abby wasn't really sure why, but she found it really hard to talk to Joey. Joey didn't seem to know what to say, either, so they just ended up walking around for a half an hour, until Abby met up with Alex and handed off the trophy, just before the fireworks. Joey and Abby sat on the ground and watched the sky until Abby, who was exhausted, laid down on the ground. Joey followed suit, laying down next to her. His arm brushed against hers and she instinctively looked over at him. He smiled.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," Abby replied.

"Sorry," he finally said after realizing he had hit her with his arm.

"It's fine," she assured him, then turned away so she could still watch the fireworks. However, she must have fallen asleep shortly after that, for next thing she knew, Brant was shaking her awake.

"Come on," he said. "It's time to go home. Mom and dad are looking for you."

She stood up a little too fast and stumbled, but managed to keep upright. "What time is it?" she asked.

"Almost midnight," Joey spoke up from behind Brant. "I didn't notice you'd fallen asleep at first, but then I said something and you didn't answer, so—" Joey kind of cut off awkwardly after that, as if he didn't really want to say what he said to her.

"Okay, let's go." Abby followed Brant to her parents and then he left with Joey, obviously giving him the ride home he had promised earlier. Alex caught Abby's eye, and Abby knew her well enough to know that she was thinking, _We need to talk when we get home._


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

When they finally arrived home, though, Abby was exhausted, and tried to convince Alex of this. Alex, however, wasn't having it and immediately began the lightning round of questions once they were safely in their room.

"Okay. Tell me you're not in love with that guy!"

"I'm not in love with that guy," Abby replied. "If you think I am, you obviously don't know what love actually is. That being said, I kind of am crushing, big time," she admitted, blushing.

"Aw, that's adorable!" Alex said, silently squealing. "You better hope we get this choreographer job. Then you'll be able to spend all this extra time with him to teach him how to dance!"

"Don't say anything to Brant, you know how overprotective he gets," Abby warned.

"Yeah, no, I wouldn't," Alex assured her. "I'm just saying, I ship it."

"Okay, let's not. It was really awkward when Brant left us alone. I doubt he likes me at all, I'm just kind of there, you know?"

"I guess. But I'm determined to find out!"

-A-

The next day, the girls went with Brant to his rehearsal at noon, and Brian intercepted them before Abby could see if Joey was anywhere around.

"So, I like you, and Joey thought you were pretty cool, Abby," Brian began, to Abby's shock. "But Nick and Matt are our main 'casting directors.' In other words, they have to approve anyone who gets added to the Team. Therefore, we're going to introduce you to them, and if they like you, then we'll introduce you to the rest of the cast, and if you get on with them, then I guess you're in, alright?"

Both girls nodded nervously. Alex was nervous about not being good enough for them. Abby was nervous about meeting new people for the first time, as she had a habit of abusing new people or bitching them out. Thinking about it, she was shocked she hadn't done that to Joey last night.

Nick and Matt were two cool people, though. They were brothers who started this entire operation. They were also huge Harry Potter dorks, so Abby and Alex soon got into a huge discussion with them about Voldemort.

"Voldemort was definitely a sociopath who turned into a psychopath," Abby started. "I mean, he went around Hogwarts, all the teachers loved him, he even won an award for services to the school! But it was all an act, you know? He really opened the Chamber of Secrets and killed poor Myrtle!"

"Yeah, he really is an interesting character to think about," Matt agreed.

"Don't get her started on it though. She will go on forever," Alex warned the guys, and they laughed.

"Okay, okay. But we'll probably have time to go over this later, during rehearsals?" Nick said, posing it like a question.

"We're in?" Alex clarified.

"Yep," Matt chimed in.

"Awesome!" Alex said, punching the air. Abby laughed.  
"Hey," Nick suddenly spoke up as they were on their way out.

"What?" Alex asked, turning around.

"Are you guys actors and singers as well?"

"Not really. Not as much as we are dancers," Abby replied.

"But you can sing?"

"Um…no," Abby said shyly, and Alex shook her head in agreement.

"Oh. That sucks. We're a cast member short, since one of our friends quit on us last minute before rehearsals began. She's a pretty main part, too, so we've been trying to replace her as quickly as we can. One of our minor parts in this show offered to do it, but we didn't want to do that unless we had to. It's a long story. But that's not important," Nick said as he reached into his bag and pulled out a pretty big notebook and a CD. "Here's the script and the music. The show is called Starship. What we want you to do is not only choreograph the dances, but also choreograph the show. You know, where people come in and go offstage, where they move during their lines, that kind of stuff."

"Yeah, we get it."

"You can stick around today to get a feel for the actors and stuff. We're just running through lines and stuff," Matt added.

"Could one of you guys read for February, at least?" Nick asked.

Abby sighed overdramatically. "I'll do it I guess," she said.

Abby was in for a surprise when she found out that February was Bug, AKA Joey's, love interest in the show. She read through the lines as best she could for it being the first time she'd read through it, but she could tell that the others had read through it before, for some of them were even off-book for a few short scenes. It took about three to three and a half hours, and that was without songs.

When that was over, Alex and Abby put the CD into the speaker system and began playing the songs. Matt came up to them halfway through.

"There's one song that you're not going to find on there, since our other actress quit. She was in one song as a soloist, and she quit before we could record her song. Jaime knows it, so you could ask her to sing for February to illustrate it for you, okay?" Matt asked.

"Yeah," Alex said, nudging Abby who was flipping through the script, humming.

"What?" Abby asked.

"What was that you were humming?" Matt asked.

"Uh…it's called 'Grand Theft Autumn' by Fall Out Boy?" Abby replied uncertainly.

"Good band," Matt replied. "Sing a little bit?"

"Nope," Abby said immediately. "Sorry. I don't sing."

"Why not?"

Abby shrugged. "I just don't."

Matt smirked. "Come on," he said. "Just a little?"

"Sorry," Abby said not-so-apologetically, then turned back to reading the script. "This is really funny by the way. How do you come up with this stuff?"

"We've been doing it a while," Matt explained. "I think Brian mentioned you haven't seen any of our other musicals?" Abby shook her head. "You should. You could see the kinds of things we usually do, you know? Keep within the pattern."

"Right. That was going to be our project for tonight anyway," Abby said.

"Good, good. Let's see, today's Thursday, so…our next rehearsal isn't until Monday. Promise me you'll have something for us to do Monday?" Matt asked.

"I can't guarantee we'll be choreographing the show in order. We're both pretty excited for this 'Get Back Up' song," Alex warned.

"So are Lauren and Walker. I think it'd be awesome if you did that first so we can stop hearing about it," Matt laughed.

"And we'd also like to do the beginning scene, 'I Wanna Be.' I like that just because in it we get introduced to all the characters in the show," Abby said. "Well, all the bugs, anyway," she amended.

"So what we're planning for Monday is 'Get Back Up' and 'I Wanna Be'?" Matt clarified.

"Yeah. But we'll let you know for sure what we're doing when _we_ know for ourselves," Abby added.

"Cool," Matt said, and left the girls alone.

It wasn't long, however, until Joey came up to them. "A couple of us are going out to eat. Including Brant, who is your ride home. I have convinced him to let you two tag along, if you're interested."

"Thanks, but we really should get working on this," Abby said, gesturing to the script she was still holding and reading through, but Alex nudged her.

"We'll have time. Sure, we'll go," Alex said happily.

Once Joey had walked away, Abby rounded on her. "What was that? Are you trying to push me and Joey together still?"

"No. I think that cute guy Dylan is going, and I wanna go too," Alex replied.

"Well find out, and if he is, then we'll go," Abby reasoned.

Alex rolled her eyes and went to talk to the group assembling by the door, and a minute later she waved Abby over. Abby put the script and CD into her bag and met them by the door.

"So Joey, Brant, Dylan, Lauren, Brian, and Jaime are going. You coming?" Alex summed up.

"Yeah, why not?" Abby surrendered. Alex cheered like a dork, and Joey and Lauren smiled at her.

Brant led the group out to his van, which was apparently the only car that would fit all of them in one. Brant drove with Brian in the passenger's seat, Lauren and Joey were in the middle seat, and Alex, Dylan, and Jaime dove into the back. Abby was stuck laying over Joey and Lauren's laps, her head in Joey's lap, feet in Lauren's.

"Is this safe?" Abby asked teasingly.

"Don't worry. With me driving you're perfectly safe," Brant spoke up from the driver's seat. Abby had the feeling she couldn't trust him, but she didn't voice it out loud.

It was a fifteen minute drive to the pizza place they were going to, and as soon as Brant had parked, Abby rolled off the two Starkids' laps and onto the floor. "That really hurt my back," she complained, and Joey and Lauren both put their hands on her shoulders sympathetically.

They all got out of the van and went into the pizza place and were told it'd be about a 15 to 20 minute wait.

"I hate waiting," Abby complained to herself, and Lauren, who overheard, nodded in agreement. "I'm a chronically impatient and bitchy person," Abby added.

"Yeah, I'm impatient too, but I'm too perky to be bitchy!" Lauren said, perkily of course. "So what scenes are you choreographing first?" she asked excitedly.

"We're going to work on 'Get Back Up,' just the song, and 'I Wanna Be,' the entire scene so we can get the beginning scene out of the way, you know?"

"Yeah! Oh I'm so excited for 'Get Back Up,' it's my favorite song to do!" Lauren squealed.

"I've heard," Abby laughed. "Yeah, we're probably gonna do some sort of partial swing dance type thing, have you ever done swing dance?"

"Just a little," Lauren replied. "I remember some basic moves."

"One of my friends found out a couple weeks ago that I didn't even know what it was, so he taught me, and there are a couple moves that are just my favourites, so we'll probably add those in."

"Sounds fun!" Lauren said excitedly.

"Dancing _is_ fun!" Abby replied.

"How long have you been dancing?" Lauren asked.

"A few years. Not very long. We recently decided we needed something to do to keep us from sitting still for too long," Abby said, and Lauren laughed. "You laugh, but I'm completely serious," Abby added. "I have a tendency to sit for hours on end and write, and Alex has that tendency with drawing, so if we're hanging out in the basement drawing and writing, now we just get up and take a five minute dance break every hour or so."

"What do you write?" Lauren asked in interest.

"Novels. Right now I'm working on this fantasy novel that I started with a friend _years_ ago. And then there's those random fanfictions that pop into my head," she added.

"Nice! I can't write. I read. Anything I try to write doesn't come out right on paper."

"That's how I am with drawing, but Alex has a talent I do not. We're both really creative though. And sometimes we collaborate on writings/drawings. Like, she'll illustrate my short stories, stuff like that."

"That's awesome!"

Abby liked Lauren. She was really fun. She looked around at the group. Brant was in a conversation with Dylan and Jaime, and Joey was talking to Brian and Alex. Abby hoped beyond hope that Alex didn't say anything about her to Joey. She didn't _think_ her sister would do that, but one could never be too sure, especially one with trust issues like Abby.

Finally, they got seated and ordered a bunch of pizzas and pop, and now Abby was sitting between Dylan and Jaime, who were practically talking over her. When Abby finally offered to switch spots with Jaime so they could continue their conversation, they finally started paying attention to her.

"You're the one Joey's been telling us about, aren't you?" Jaime asked, though from her tone, Abby knew she already knew the answer to that.

"Probably. Does he talk about that freak with purple hair?" Abby asked monotonously.

Jaime hesitated, obviously not expecting Abby to beat her to calling her a freak. "No. The pretty girl he can't stop thinking about. With purple hair," she added after that.

Abby frowned in confusion and raised an eyebrow to Jaime.

"Just…don't. I mean, he's kind of a dick, really," Jaime warned.

"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to 'don't,' so I'm just going to fake smile and nod," Abby said, doing as she said.

"Don't give him your extra attention. I can tell you want to. Who wouldn't? But he'll just end up using you."

"I'm not sure _when_ he dumped you, but something tells me it happened recently and you're still a little bitter. Let it go. It's really not good for you," Abby said with fake concern for Jaime.

"Wow. You're a bitch. Well, at least I know you turned down the role of February. If Nick can't find another person to do it by Monday's rehearsal, he's going to let me do it, so thank you for making my chances greater than yours," Jaime said in a superior tone.

"Oh," Abby said, nodding and pretending she cared.

"Don't get too comfortable around here. Most of us have been together since the start. You guys and your loser step-brother will be out of here before you know it."

"Whoa, Jaime, cool it," Dylan finally spoke up, and Jaime smiled at Abby in a sickeningly sweet way.

"Sure, I'll switch seats with you," she said, putting Abby between her and Brian.

-A-

"What did Jaime say to you?" Alex asked later when the girls were working on choreography later that night. "You looked like you were going to slap her right there if Dylan didn't say something."

"I probably would have," Abby replied, and relayed the conversation to Alex.

"Bitch!" Alex snapped. "What did you ever do to her?"

"I don't know, but I have made a decision. I think I'm gonna take the role of February," Abby said determinedly.

"You are?" Brant's voice spoke up from behind his door. He opened it up and said, "Sorry, I heard Alex scream 'Bitch!' and decided to listen in. What changed your mind?"

Abby shrugged. "It just seems like a lot of fun."

"It is. We're fun people," Brant said. "That's cool that you're going to do it. Want me to let Matt and Nick know now?"

"Sure!" Abby said enthusiastically.

But when Brant got off the phone, he had bad news for the girls. "Apparently they already told Jaime she could do it, since you declined earlier. But Nick doesn't want to get rid of your opportunity, so he's going to ask Joey who he'd rather work with, since, you know, February is his love interest. Joey will let Nick know Monday, and he'll let you know."

"We have to wait all the way until Monday to find out if Abby gets to take that whore's part?" Alex asked, exasperated.

"Don't talk about her like that, she's actually pretty cool," Brant scolded her. Alex and Abby had a silent agreement right then to not mention Jaime's threats to Brant. "But yes, you'll have to wait until Monday."

"This is going to be the longest weekend in the history of long weekends," Alex said in horror, and Abby nodded in agreement.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Talking with my first reviewer made me inspired to update now :)**

Chapter 3

True to Alex's words, the weekend went by so slow that if it went any slower the girls thought it'd be going backwards. After watching all the Starkid musicals they had on YouTube so far, they spent all the time they could on choreography of the actual show before it got to be too much sitting, then worked on the two dances until they were tired. They went back and forth all day. Their family didn't see them at all over the course of the weekend except at regularly scheduled meal breaks.

Finally, Sunday night, after they were sure they had their choreography committed to memory and perfected, they called Nick to let him know who was called when. They had the participants of "Get Back Up" come in at noon, and then the rest of the cast would be called at 1 when they'd work through the beginning. They decided it would take them longer to show their ideas for the beginning scene because they had to show more people what to do. After they got off the phone with Nick, who still couldn't tell them whether Abby should start committing lines to memory or not, they went upstairs to join the world of the living.

"It's about time!" the twins' dad said, holding up his can of beer. No, he wasn't an alcoholic, but he was known to have a can of beer or two every now and then, and was known for offering the girls alcohol too, which they declined. It wasn't that they'd never had alcohol before, for the drinking age was lower in Britain where they grew up. It wasn't even that they didn't like alcohol, except beer, which was disgusting. They just weren't that interested usually. Though they would admit to sometimes taking their dad up on his offer, provided their step-mum had some of her alcoholic slushes in the freezer.

"I'm making a special dinner, so I hope you two are hungry," their step-mum said, coming out of the kitchen and offering them each a previously mentioned slush. Lemonade flavoured.

"We are," Abby answered for the both of them.

"And Meg is coming for dinner," she added on the way back into the kitchen.

"Really?" Alex asked excitedly.

"Yes. I would have told you earlier, but you two wouldn't come out of that cave of yours down there long enough to hear it." Their mum giggled happily. "Oh well. It'll be great to have the whole family here!"

Everyone noticed her almost slip up and add "again" to the end of that sentence. The truth was, the six kids had never all lived in the same house.

When the girls were one, their dad met a woman while at a Red Wings vs. Blackhawks hockey game in Detroit. She was in town from Chicago for work. He had lived near Detroit since he was a kid. They spent more time together after they realized they worked for the same company. Three years later, they got married.

The woman had 2 kids from her previous marriage, Brant and Meg. Brant was 8 when their parents got married, and Meg was 6. The twins were 4 and they and Meg were the flower girls in the wedding, while Brant was the ring bearer.

A year later, they had Josh, and two years after that, Sara was born.

However, when the twins were 5, right after Josh was born, their gran in England insisted that they were to live with her, since she'd never approved of their dad, her only child's husband. They moved back when they were 14 for secondary school and now Uni, which they were putting off a couple years.

Then there was Meg. When she was 12, she suddenly went to live with her real dad's mother. No one was entirely sure why. When she was 18, three years ago, she got her own apartment and only came by once in a while.

"Is she staying the night?" Alex asked. Usually when she came by she stayed the night with the twins, who were always willing to share their room with family.

"Not tonight. She's a bit busy tomorrow, so she's just staying for a few hours."

The girls nodded and immediately went to help their step-mum in the kitchen, who they usually just called mum to make it easier (though they technically weren't obliged to, so they often called her Donna when they were mad at her or annoyed with her, and DoctorDonna when Abby felt like being weird, for their mum was a Doctor Who fan just like they were on occasion). They entered the kitchen to the smell of lasagna, which was Meg's favourite food, they knew. It was almost done, so they cleaned off the table and set it in an effort to do something productive this weekend. Their mother smiled at them to let them know it was appreciated.

A knock on the door let the entire family know that Meg was here. When she walked into the kitchen, Abby definitely felt inadequate. She was wearing heels and a cute but professional type outfit that made Abby's sweat pants and tee shirt look even worse than it actually was. The two girls were nothing alike, but loved each other in the best way. Meg was immaculate. She always had to have things perfectly tidy and neat. Abby, on the other hand, hated her step-sister's cleanliness, and always tried to get her to loosen up. Alex was caught somewhere in the middle, but usually sided with her twin out of loyalty.

Dinner was quiet. Meg's presence always made it quiet. No one wanted to say something to her that would pertain to why she left, or that's what Abby thought anyway. Since no one was sure why she left, they didn't say anything unless she began the conversation. Well, except for the younger two, but they didn't know better, and it wasn't like what they said was very offensive anyway. Their mum would always say things about Meg behind her back, but never when she was around.

After dinner, the whole family sat around and watched the Wings play the Blackhawks, a family tradition whenever the two teams were playing. The twins, their dad, and Josh for some reason, even though he'd lived in Chicago his whole life, would root for the Wings, while their mum, Brant, Sara, and Meg when she was over would root for the Blackhawks. The Wings won in OT, which sparked a lot of taunting from that side of the family and a lot of lame excuses from the other side.

Finally, Meg had to go home, and the family said goodbye. Alex and Abby went right to bed, hoping tomorrow would come sooner, but neither twin could sleep, so they stayed up playing Animal Crossing until they finally fell asleep with their Nintendo DS's still on.

-A-

When Abby woke up the next morning, she immediately flipped her game off, then looked at the clock. It was 9:30, and she was very happy because that meant there was less than 3 hours until they could go to rehearsal. When Abby was in primary school, she was in a musical that met only on Fridays, so all week she would count down the days until Friday, when she got to go to rehearsals. She could tell this would be the same.

Abby loved being in plays, even though every play she was in, she was always part of the chorus. Since she did a lot of dance choreography, most directors thought she couldn't choreograph and memorize lines. They severely underestimated her capabilities, however, but she never told them that. The one time she was in a play as the lead was in first grade, and she froze up backstage and couldn't go on. They had to have another girl in her class play her part while trying to conceal her script in the best way possible.

That was why she was so resistant to sing in front of the Langs, and why she refused the part at first. The only thing Abby hated more than being in front of people, however, was stuck up bitches, so she had felt the need to show Jaime up. She was slowly beginning to regret it, however, as she thought about it.

But she shook her head and tried to think of something else. Anything, actually. Somehow, her mind wandered to Joey. She knew he wasn't into her, and she should have known better than to fall for him like she was, but something about him intrigued her. Not to mention, he was cute, and sweet, and fun to hang around, not that Abby had done much hanging around him since the night of the festival.

She wondered who he would pick to play his love interest. If he picked Jaime, and if they actually were together once, that would tell her something. Jaime would also get a huge kick out of that. But would it really mean something to him? Maybe he'd just be more comfortable around someone he already knew.

But if he picked her…would that mean he was madder at Jaime, or that he actually was into her a little bit? Abby didn't doubt that she was cute, and her hair seemed to draw guys to her quite well, but she never got the idea that Joey was into her at all. She really couldn't predict how this was going to go at all.

Alex got up about a half an hour after Abby did and the girls went to the basement to run through their routines once more. The house was empty because the kids had started school today and their parents both worked. Brant was in his room and didn't come out all morning, until it was about 11:30 and he had to eat lunch before driving the girls to rehearsal. He would be there at 12 because he had to drive them there, and he'd be staying until he was called at one, because why not, as he put it.

At 11:45 they practically ran to Brant's van. Abby dove into the front seat, and surprisingly, Alex didn't even complain as she ran into the back.

"You too are way too excited to come to rehearsals. I get it, it's fun and all, but trust me, the novelty will wear off eventually," Brant promised.

"Well until it does, let us be excited to find out whether Abby got in as February or not!" Alex said.

"Yeah, about that?" Brant began. "I don't know if it's the best idea…."

"Why not?" Abby snapped.

"I mean, remember what happened the last time you had a big part in a play? You couldn't do it."

"I know. But I'm older now. I can do it this time," Abby assured him.

"Yeah, but—"

"Look. Is there a reason you don't want me to do it? Or are you making excuses?"

"I'm…nothing. I'm making excuses," Brant surrendered, but Abby got a feeling he was lying.

The three of them arrived at the theatre they were practicing at, and the girls calmly walked in and met up with Lauren and Walker.

"Ready to start?" Lauren asked excitedly.

"Yeah," Abby said. "So here's what we're gonna do. Alex and I are going to show you how it's done once, where she's Walker and I'm Lauren, and then Walker's going to work with me and Lauren's going to work with Alex and we'll break it down for you. So here it goes."

And the girls did their cute partial swing dance they came up with over the weekend for Lauren and Walker to see, and for Matt and Nick to approve. They did, and Abby took Walker aside to a smaller separate room to teach him the dance.

Neither of them saw who passed by the room and looked in, becoming enraged with jealousy.

-A-

When they returned, Alex and Lauren were already waiting for them, and Lauren and Walker got together to do their dance together for the first time. With a little instruction from the twins, they did it pretty well the first time. The second time, they fell into rhythm together quite well. The third time, they were damn near perfect.

"Wow. Do you guys dance together often?" Alex asked them.

"I dragged Walker to a swing dance club once. Sometimes he even goes without me now. It concerns me." Lauren laughed. "So what about the rest of the song?" she added.

"Okay. Well this is where we need Specs, Tootsie, and Kray—" Abby cut off, not sure how to pronounce the name still. Lauren informed her, and she repeated it. "Krayonder." But she stopped when she realized that it just sounded weird saying it in her accent, so she just said, "I'm going to call him Kray. Okay. We need the three of them." She had momentarily forgotten who played each character, but remembered when Julia, Dylan, and Joe Moses, who soon insisted that the twins call him JoMo, came onstage. "Alex, you wanna take this part?" When Alex nodded, Abby explained to Walker, "You'll basically be reacting, unless I tell you something specific to do, got it?" Walker nodded, and they started from the beginning and paused when they hit the part where the rest of them came out. Alex pointed the four of them through the steps, and after a moment, Abby felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned around to find Nick, who led her offstage and to the house.

"Nice moves on Lauren and Walker's parts," he commented. "They're really good dancers, especially together. They have that chemistry, you know?"

Abby nodded. "I can see it."

"Good," Nick commented. "Now let's see," he added. "I talked to Joey. He'll be here in just a few minutes, but he already told me his answer when I just called him and asked him. He said, honestly, he'd rather you do it than Jaime, but wouldn't give any more details than that. So, congratulations February. Start learning your lines! Can't wait to see your scenes!" And he ran away.

Abby, overcome with excitement, jumped once, then decided that she should be calmer, so she ran back onstage to give directions to Walker and waited until Alex had explained the whole choreography to the others before telling her sister the news. Alex squealed, then composed herself long enough to tell the group to take five. Everyone started leaving before Alex, compulsive as she was, insisted they say "Thank you five," after she gave them instructions, so she knew they heard her.

"This is amazing! Oh my gosh do you know what Jaime said? Was she there when Nick told you?" Alex ranted quickly.

"No, I don't know. She wasn't there."

Just then, though, the girls saw Jaime storming out from backstage and leaving the theatre in an angry way.

"I'm guessing she just found out," Alex said hesitantly.

"Holy shit!" Abby swore under her breath. She sat on the edge of the stage. "She's gonna kill me, isn't she?"

"I'd say yes," Alex assured her sister, putting her hand on her shoulder and consoling her.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hi hiiiiiiii :) Can I sneakily sneak in the fact that I have a Tumblr now that y'all should follow? Okay so it's 'evilfromthevoid' and I'll probably post on there when I post a chapter on here, and yeah. Stuff. Okay. Sure. Chapter time.**

 **Chapter 4**

"We're back, guys," Alex called to her five performers. "This is where you say 'Thank you back.'"

"Thank you back," she heard five voices call, and nodded happily.

"Alright, everyone back onstage and we'll go through it again. If you don't remember it, mirror me," Alex instructed, and they began.

"They're good," Abby noted.

After they had run through the song three times, the twins noticed it was one and decided to start with the other scene they had choreographed, the beginning song, "I Wanna Be." After they had explained their ideas, Alex took the lead. Since Alex was more patient at teaching, the girls had decided over the weekend that Alex would take the lead in the teaching, while Abby used her mind and imagination to do more choreography. So Abby sat in the front row of the theatre and watched the scene come together before her eyes, while in the back of her mind was planning the next few scenes. She wanted to choreograph February's introduction monologue, as well as the scene where they meet the other Rangers. She was interrupted, however, when Nick came up next to her.

"We're really glad you decided to help us out," he said.

"Thanks."

"And we really think you're gonna be a great February."

"Thanks again."

"Did you ever learn her song?"

"No. How could I?"

"Didn't Matt tell you Jaime knows it?" Nick asked.

"Yeah, but I don't want to ask Jaime. I'll see if Joey knows it. I mean I should hope so, he has the complimentary part in it."

"I really like your accent, by the way," Nick said suddenly. "Are you guys really from Britain?"

"Yeah, we are. Lived there from age 5 to age 14," she replied. "Came back for secondary school and university, but we're taking a couple years off."

Nick nodded. "That's really cool. And though I do love the accent," he said, and it seemed to Abby he was hinting at something more, "I need to ask if you can hide it? For the show, only, of course," he was quick to add. "I mean, I don't think February would have a British accent, you know?"

"No, I get it," Abby said understandingly. "I was thinking that too. British people have the reputation for being more intelligent. Well," she amended, "not even that. Americans have the reputation for being more ignorant and uneducated. I always thought February would be the typical American. Blonde and skinny, ignorant, etcetera. Speaking of blonde, what the hell do you want me to do with my hair?" she suddenly remembered. "I can bleach it…again," she added as an afterthought.

"Would you be willing to? I mean, I know how much damage it does so I would never ask you to if you didn't want to."

"I've bleached my hair before, Nick," Abby pointed out. "You can't dye black hair, and we both know this isn't natural," she laughed, playing with her purple hair.

"Right, that's true," he conceded. "If you want to wait until we get further into costumes, you can. There's no need to do it now."

"Okay," Abby agreed.

-A-

After Abby had given the okay on the work that was done for the day, rehearsal ended. Abby assured Nick that they'd have the next scene done for the next day.

"Thanks for doing this on such short notice, by the way," he said as she was about to leave. "I know how hard it must be for you guys to do this. Most of the time, our choreographers have a couple months before rehearsals even start for them to work on it. We just wanted to let you know we appreciate everything you're doing, and if you ever need help, I'm sure any of the cast would be willing to help you out, even if you just need them to stand there, I know our old choreographers would have the cast members just stand there so they could get a visual, you know?"

"Yeah. I was thinking of having a day to do that, maybe a Friday so I could have the weekend to work with it fresh in my mind," Abby said.

"This Friday works as well as any," Nick said. "Best to get that done sooner rather than later, right?"

"Yeah, we can do that. What I think we'll have them do is run through the show, minus songs, and just move naturally so I can see what they do."

"Sounds great," Nick said, and left her to her own devices. Alex came up to her once Nick was out of earshot.

"So I was talking to a few of the guys. Dylan has work, and so does Joe. Joey's going home with Brant, and I guess us. No fun pizza parties or anything, sorry."

"It's fine, Alex," Abby assured her. "I think I'm gonna work on lines in the basement, if you want to try some choreographing? Unless you're sick of it."

"Well, seeing as we have until tomorrow to do something else, I'll work a little on 'Hideous Creatures' while you work on your lines."

"Alright."

-A-

The next month was filled with rehearsals. The twins had choreographed the whole show within the first week, and the next three weeks were full of workshopping and fixing things that needed to be fixed and perfected. Abby ran lines quite often with Joey, and one day they'd even talked about Jaime.

"Yeah, we dated. Why do you ask?"

"She kind of implied it."

"How?" he insisted, and Abby wasn't sure how much to say.

"She just seemed a little…jealous that I was playing February and she's not," she settled on telling him.

"Yeah, I think she's still into me. It doesn't matter," he said.

"Well, are you still into her?" Abby asked.

"No, that's why I've tried to get her to realize that we're over. That's why I picked you to play February. And because I thought it was a good idea to get some new faces in here, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess I know," she said as her mood sank. "Anyway, we should get back to running lines, right?"

"Yeah."

But that day was a while ago, and since then, she could have sworn she could tell he was flirting with her, but she was skeptical. Then, just a week before the opening of the show, something else happened.

Joey had been hanging out with Brant a lot. There were many times that the girls had come down to the basement to be alone when they'd found Brant and Joey either running lines or hanging out, and not acknowledging the girls at all except for a quick "Let us know when dinner's ready." This was one of those days. However, no one but their mum had known that Meg was also coming for dinner, and therefore it was a great surprise to everyone when there was a knock on the front door just before they all sat down for dinner. Their mum went to answer it and Meg came into the kitchen with her.

"Hey, Meg," a bunch of voices called at once.

"Hey, Abby and Alex, do you mind if I stay in your room tonight?" was the first thing she said to anyone there.

"Sure," Alex answered for the both of them. "Abby and I are going to be up pretty late, though, working on the play we're helping with."

"Oh. Mind if I watch?" Meg asked.

"Sure, go ahead," Abby spoke up.

The dinner table was pretty cramped with nine people, so their parents went to eat in the living room, the kids went to eat in what was called the "family room" (which Abby and Alex didn't understand, since the family never was all in there at once), and the rest of them sat at the table.

"So, Meg," Joey began. "How's that song you were working on coming?"

As they talked, the twins exchanged looks from across the table. They hadn't realized that Joey would have met Meg. Then again, Abby thought, he spent enough time around Brant that they'd had to have met a few times. From the way they talked, Abby didn't doubt it was more than once.

Later that night, when the girls were downstairs, Abby brought it up when Alex was talking to Joey about his dancing skills—or lack thereof—commenting on how there weren't many dance opportunities since half the show was puppets. Abby and Meg were in their own corner.

"I didn't realize you'd met Joey," Abby began carefully.

"Yeah, we've met a few times. He's kinda cute, right?" Meg replied.

"Yeah, I'd say," Abby laughed.

"I really want to ask him out, but I don't do that," Meg said shyly.

"Oh, I can get you an in if you want," Abby offered. "Joey and I are decently close. I could find out if he likes you." Why was she doing this? Didn't she want to date him herself?

"Really? That's great! Thanks, sis!" Meg said, hugging her, during which Abby tensed.

It didn't take Abby long to have pretty much the exact same conversation with Joey and to persuade him to ask her out, much to Alex's dismay.

"Why? Why would you do that?" Alex asked. "I thought you liked Joey!"

"No. I thought he was cute and fun to hang out with, but whatever. It doesn't matter. He's going on a date with her this weekend, and she's coming to the show. You know, the thing she said she wouldn't do? She's doing it for him. Maybe this will be good for her. It'll help her connect with at least some people in the family more; namely, you, me, and Brant, but still!"

"Ugh. Fine. Stop sinking my ships, dammit," Alex said, pouting, but accepting this as fact.

-A-

The next week was the opening show. On the day of the show, they had a rehearsal, and then were going out to dinner, and then would come back to prepare for the show and get into costumes. Meg came with them to dinner, and that's when Joey and Meg announced that they were dating. Alex tried to act happy for them, and only Abby could tell that it was an act. Abby, however, was happy for them, and Alex couldn't figure it out.

"Seriously, I thought you liked Joey," she said for the millionth time over the past few days.

"No," Abby said. She didn't say anything else as she got into costume and brushed her hair. She'd gotten it bleached earlier that week, and straightened it for the show. "So after the show, should I go back to purple, or try red. Or blue!" she added excitedly.

"Stop changing the subject!" Alex said.

"Okay, Alex, I'm going to say this once and only once. Joey and I were and are just friends. Yes, he's attractive and I'm not going to deny that. But I am happy for Meg and Joey. I don't need a boyfriend in my life to make me happy. And in all honesty that probably wouldn't work that well anyway," she added.

"Okay," Alex finally surrendered. "I believe you."

-A-

"Oh no," Abby said as she looked out into the crowd. "Why did I agree to do this?" she mumbled to herself. There were so many people. Not to mention her family was there. Oh no. Why did this have to happen? She could feel her breathing and heart rate climbing.

And then, someone ran into her and almost thrust her forward, onto the stage. She turned around to find Joey.

"I'm sorry, Abby!" he said, then saw her expression, which she had to imagine was pretty freaked out. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"No. Joey, why did I agree to do this? What if I forget my lines? What if I make a fool of myself? Worse, what if NO ONE thinks I'm funny? What do I do?" she asked all her questions in a rush.

Joey looked at her with the most caring and understanding look she had ever seen. "I understand, Abby. I'm nervous too. The only other time I was the lead in a play, I had other things to worry about—I was sick for fuck's sake! I know where you're coming from, but we both have to be strong. Look, I'll go out there if you will."

"It's different with you, though," she said. "You've been doing plays with Starkid for a long time. From what I've seen, your fans are expecting someone they already know to play February. What if I can't live up to their expectations? What if they hate me? It's not just stage fright anymore, Joey."

"Abby," Joey said, and looked at me seriously. "You're not the only newcomer. Brant is new, Meredith is somewhat new. And hey, I've met some of our fans. I know that the one thing they would never do is hate on a new member of Starkid. In fact, they'd think it's great that a bunch of new people are joining at once. I'm sure they can't wait to see you. Or Brant. Or Meredith. I mean, I know I'm super excited. How about you join me?"

When Joey walked away, Abby didn't think his talk had helped at all. But subconsciously it must have. Instead of nervous jitters, now she was filled with excited ones. She couldn't wait until her scene.

-A-

The first act went off without a hitch, and though Abby almost forgot one of her lines in February's opening monologue, she somehow made it work decently well. The second act started well too. For the entire first scene all she had to do was lay on a cot onstage. Then she had to act oh so in love with Joey, which wasn't difficult either, seeing as she did in fact think he was adorable. She was a little conscious of the fact that her step-brother and step-sister both were watching this and wouldn't approve if they knew the thoughts in her head, albeit for different reasons. Meg, obviously, because she was apparently dating Joey, and Brant because, though the twins hadn't really grown up around him, once they came back to America, he was always really protective of them and their horrid boyfriends (and yes, they'd both only had one boyfriend and both of them happened to be horrid).

Anyway, her solo in the song The Way I Do went really well, and afterwards, Joey took the time to congratulate and hug her before going into his next scene, Commander Up's famous injury scene. The next scene she was in, Beauty, was where she got to hear Brant sing his solo. And, though she had heard him sing this song many a time in rehearsal, she was struck, as always, with awe at both her step-brother's singing voice and the fact that she never knew he was able to sing that well to begin with. Her next scene involved them watching the videos and took the pressure off her a little, as half the time, the audience was watching the videos anyway. There was one small addition to the scene that she'd added in rehearsal about a week before that the directors had laughed their head off at.

"Bug," she said. "What if the Galactic League sent us to this planet, and sent me on the scouting mission, because they wanted me to get captured?"

"Why would they want to do that?" Joey/Bug asked, and she turned to him.

"I don't know but it all makes sense. That's why when Junior interviewed me for this mission, he was asking me all those creeper questions! Like, 'Are you often followed by illegal aliens?' and 'How big is your esophagus?' I mean," she said, feigning dumb, "I thought he was hitting on me." She then wrapped her arms around Joey's torso and said, "Bug." She let go of him and continued. "There are a lot of guys out there who would like to know that I don't really have a gag reflex," she finished as she looked Joey up and down.

The first time she did this, it was a subtle eye movement that only Nick caught, but he had to point it out to the rest of the directors and they suggested that she do this as obviously as possible. So when she told Bug she didn't have a gag reflex, her entire head moved down to survey Bug's human body. The audience cracked up as Joey raised his hand, about to say his next line, and Abby winked at Joey, which he pretended to miss.

"No gag reflex, that means it would be easy to implant an egg in your chest," he said, and she started to roll her eyes that he didn't "get the hint," but then gasped as she finally got it.

Minus the singing, this was the scene she had been most nervous for when it came to her stage fright.


End file.
